Michael Haydn: Kaiser Constantin I "Feldzug und Sieg" Orfeo Orchestra & György Vashegyi

• Michael Haydn (1737 - 1806): Kaiser Constantin I "Feldzug und Sieg":
• 1 Haydn: Kaiser Constantin I "Feldzug und Sieg": Introduzione 04:12
• 2 Haydn: Kaiser Constantin I "Feldzug und Sieg": Vielleicht ist Constantin, der große Held 01:06
• 3 Haydn: Kaiser Constantin I "Feldzug und Sieg": Jubilieret, triumphieret, gesegnete Christen 06:42
• 4 Haydn: Kaiser Constantin I "Feldzug und Sieg": Es müssten mir auch viele von den Heiden 04:19
• 5 Haydn: Kaiser Constantin I "Feldzug und Sieg": Rom ist mir zu stille worden 06:06
• 6 Haydn: Kaiser Constantin I "Feldzug und Sieg": Vernehmet auch von mir 02:52
• 7 Haydn: Kaiser Constantin I "Feldzug und Sieg": O du zentnerschwere Last 12:44
• 8 Haydn: Kaiser Constantin I "Feldzug und Sieg": Für mich betrübt, und für die Christenheit 04:04
• 9 Haydn: Kaiser Constantin I "Feldzug und Sieg": Herr, dein Wort ist Recht und Licht 08:46
• 10 Haydn: Kaiser Constantin I "Feldzug und Sieg": Wann aber wir deswegen uns betrüben 04:00
• 11 Haydn: Kaiser Constantin I "Feldzug und Sieg": Du stirbst, o Held 05:01
• 12 Haydn: Kaiser Constantin I "Feldzug und Sieg": Ein wahrer Vater ist dir Rom entgangen 02:28
• 13 Haydn: Kaiser Constantin I "Feldzug und Sieg": Einem Mann von dieser Art 03:43
• 14 Haydn: Kaiser Constantin I "Feldzug und Sieg": O Der Gläubige muss sich... 03:44
• 15 Haydn: Kaiser Constantin I "Feldzug und Sieg": Stille, stille, Gottes Wille 10:07
• 16 Haydn: Kaiser Constantin I "Feldzug und Sieg": Durch welchen Zufall ist Rufin geblieben 06:20
• 17 Haydn: Kaiser Constantin I "Feldzug und Sieg": Ihr Christen, streuet Palmen 05:18
• Total Runtime 01:31:32

Info for Michael Haydn: Kaiser Constantin I "Feldzug und Sieg"

Between 1768 and 1771, and after he had moved to Salzburg, Joseph Haydn's younger brother Michael Haydn composed four large-scale German-language oratorios with a religious theme that are of historical significance to the genre: Der Kampf der Buβe und Bekehrung, 1768; Kaiser Constantin I. Feldzug und Sieg, 1769; Der reumütige Petrus, 1770; and Der büβende Sünder, 1771. The handwritten scores to these are among the most important items in the music collection of the National Széchényi Library in Budapest. Since these extraordinary works to this day remain unknown to the wider world, the Purcell Choir and Orfeo Orchestra set about researching them in 2004, which resulted in the release of recordings of two of the works (Der Kampf der Buβe und Bekehrung and Der büβende Sünder) and also their performance in concert. In the 2015/16 season, under the professional guidance of Orfeo Orchestra member and musicologist Anna Scholz, they have now released Kaiser Constantin I. Feldzug und Sieg, of which their performance in 2016 was the first since 1769, making it a modern-day world première.

"Several factors contributed to the appearance of this release on classical charts in early 2023. The music had been only recently rediscovered in a Budapest library, and the album was issued as part of a series covering forgotten compositions associated with the Esterházy family. Additionally, Michael Haydn is generally underrepresented on recordings, even though he was greatly admired in his own time, even by the usually hyper-critical Mozart, but the biggest reason is that the music is highly listenable. This oratorio could easily be taken for one of Mozart's Salzburg compositions. The title Kaiser Constantin I.: Feldzug und Sieg ("Emperor Constantine I; Campaign and victory") refers to an episode in Roman history that modern listeners may have forgotten, although those of Haydn's time would have known it. The text deals with Roman emperor Constantine's victory over his rival Maxentius in the year 312 C.E., which among other things, ushered in an era of tolerance for Christianity. Constantine is said to have received a divine sign in the form of a burning cross in the air, but mostly the text is allegorical; the five solo parts are for Theology, Faintheartedness, Philosophy, Belief, and Bravery. All are sopranos; an additional alto part, here sung by a countertenor, appears at the end. Hungary's Purcell Choir gets top billing on this release by the Orfeo Orchestra and conductor György Vashegyi, but it actually has little to do. Most of the music is given over to soprano arias and duets, many of them of an extremely athletic character. Vashegyi picks his singers well, and the effect is one of a procession of contrasts. The music is strong enough that one might wish to hear it performed by true A-listers, but really, it is hard to fault the singing here. The work can certainly be recommended to music programs that have a surfeit of soprano talent in a given year. Beyond that, it belongs on shelves and hard drives with good collections of Classical-period music." (James Manheim, AMG)

Emőke Baráth, soprano
Klára Kolonits, soprano
Theodora Raftis, soprano
Chantal Santon Jeffery, soprano
Katalin Szutrély, soprano
Purcell Choir
Orfeo Orchestra
György Vashegyi, conductor

Orfeo Orchestra
The Orfeo Orchestra was founded in Budapest in 1991 by György Vashegyi, taking its name from Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, after the ensemble presented the first complete performance of this opera in Hungary. The orchestra consists of professional musicians with experience in Hungary as well as on the international scene, either as members of the orchestra or as instrumental soloists. The Orfeo Orchestra is the most authentic exponent of classical music in Hungary and it has given many first performances on period instruments under the baton of György Vashegyi. Between 2002 and 2007 the ensemble performed the first eighty symphonies composed by Haydn as part of Mr. Vashegyi’s own concert series (at Esterházy Palace), enabling these to be heard there for the first time since the 18th century with the same number of musicians, on period instruments, as Haydn himself used to perform them. The names of the Orfeo Orchestra and the Purcell Choir have now become inseparably linked with that of Mr. Vashegyi, who can rightly be described as the outstanding exponent of classical and early music in Hungary and the person who has revitalized these works this country.

György Vashegyi
was born in Budapest in 1970 and began his musical studies as an instrumentalist: he played the violin, flauto dolce, the oboe and the harpsichord. At just 18 he became a student of conducting under Ervin Lukács at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, obtaining his diploma with distinction in 1993. He was a frequent participant in the conducting master classes of John Eliot Gardiner and Helmuth Rilling and from 1994 to 1997 he was a student in the continuo master class of John Toll in Dresden, where he also studied chamber music with Jaap ter Linden and Simon Standage. He has performed as a continuo player in leading Hungarian chamber orchestras such as the Ferenc Liszt Chamber Orchestra and Concerto Armonico. In 1990 he founded the Purcell Choir in Budapest and one year later the Orfeo Orchestra. In 1991 Vashegyi made his operatic debut with Gluck’s Orfeo together with the Budapest Chamber Opera. He undertook successful tours with Orfeo in France, Switzerland and Luxembourg. In his concerts (mostly in Budapest) he has conducted many important works of the 17–18th centuries which until then had never been performed in Hungary, including Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri, Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, Funeral Anthem and Theodora by Handel, and the Requiem by Kraus. Nevertheless, he primary emphasis is on the research and performance of 18th century works by Hungarian composers which are still unknown internationally. He works primarily with his own ensembles but also gives concerts with other early music groups, including Concerto Armonico, Capella Savaria and Musica Aeterna, as well as with modern symphony orchestras and chamber orchestras as a guest conductor. He made his debut at the Hungarian State Opera of Budapest (with the Orfeo Orchestra) in August 2000 with Haydn’s L’infedeltà delusa; this was the first opera performance with period instruments in the history of the Hungarian State Opera. Since 2001 he has conducted regularly at the State Opera. In 2004 he conducted the Prague Chamber Orchestra in Würzburg (at the Mozart Fest) and Kloster Eberbach (at the Rheingau Festival).

This album contains no booklet.